Biblical
Turning Wisdom into Wine: Semiotic Analysis of Counseling Words in the Bible
A Biblical Word Study provides counselors with a deeper understanding of the concepts, tools, and techniques of counseling. This understanding promotes spiritual and psychological wholeness, providing a framework for the client to achieve his or her goals. A Word Study is an engaging and thoughtful process requiring both critical and creative thinking. Taking words commonly used in counseling settings, we search for those words using helpful online databases like the Blue Letter Bible's. The following Word Study examines two sets of words: those related to counseling in general; and those related to addiction in particular. The Word Study will describe both Old and New Testament usage for the words. The counseling-related words include "counsel," "wisdom," and "help." The addition related words include "wine," "desire," and "restraint." The Biblical Word Study is a semiotic exercise that strengthens the counselor's lexicon.
Biblical Words Related to Counseling
Using the Blue Letter Bible website, I input the six words (three counseling and three addition words) into the database. The counseling-related words include "counsel," "wisdom," and "help." Because of the challenges that translation pose, abstract words like "counsel," "wisdom," and "help" can be difficult to grapple with when performing the Word Study. Their contextual cues in the Bible must be examined, analyzed, and understood. Themes from the Old and New Testament differ, while retaining a core semiotic and semantic thread.
Counsel
According to the Blue Letter Bible (2012) search results for "counsel," the term counsel occurs 74 times in 72 verses in the NASB. A general theme that becomes immediately apparent is that counsel refers to advice. Sometimes, counsel connotes advice that is verbal in nature.
Old Testament Usage.
Strong's lexicon highlights the Hebrew word ? (ya'ats). The word ya'ats is translated to counsel in Exodus 18:19. Another Hebrew word, (dabar) refers to counsel in Numbers 31:16. Dabar refers specifically to verbal speech, as in the speech used in a business or formal context. Thus, the word "advice" denotes verbal advice in the Old Testament.
New Testament Usage
The term, regardless of translation, appears more frequently in the Old Testament than in the New Testament. New Testament uses of the word include ? In Ephesians 1:11. Here, counsel is advice but also "purpose," according to the Blue Letter Bible and Strongs. The Blue Letter Bible does not locate any other New Testament instances of a Greek word for counsel, and the Bible Gateway search only reveals one more Christian reference: in Romans11:34. Here, the word is not "counsel" but "counselor," (Bible Gateway, n.d.). Blue Letter Bible only reveals counselor as a separate and distinct entry from "counsel."
Wisdom
Wisdom occurs 216 times in 203 verses in the NASB, according to the Blue Letter Bible. Unlike the term "counsel," wisdom occurs throughout both the Old and New Testaments. In both the Hebrew and Christian bible, the term wisdom is linked textually and semantically with God.
Old Testament Usage
The plethora of occurrences of the word wisdom yields a surprisingly narrow translation; that is, one Hebrew word is in accordance with the English use of "wisdom." That Hebrew word is (chokmah). The word chokmah occurs in Exodus, Deuteronomy, 1 Kings, and 2 Chronicles. Wisdom is defined in human terms, as in war skills, administrative skills, and ethical skills (Blue Letter Bible, 2012).
New Testament Usage
The Greek word ? (Sophia) is the one most commonly used in the New Testament. There are two meanings for Sophia, however, according to the Strong's G4678 entry. The first definition applies to human wisdom; the second definition refers to the wisdom of God. Therefore, interpreting each passage of the New Testament requires close attention to contextual cues. The implication is that both man and God can possess wisdom.
Help
According to the Blue Letter Bible, the word "help" occurs 147 times out of 140 verses in the NASB. In the Old Testament, help has a rather monolithic meaning as succor. New Testament occurrences of "help" refer to several different but interrelated Greek words.
Old Testament Usage
In Hebrew, the word translated into help is ? ('azar). Help means offering support and assistance. It occurs in passages as varied as Genesis 4:1 and 2 Samuel 22:36. Help comes in the form of human and divine assistance, generally implying an act of service or charity...
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